There can't be too many more frustrating teams to watch than Yeovil Town right now. That's unless you're a neutral supporter, in which case 22 goals in three games is the place to be - 8-2, 3-2, 4-3 is one of the most ridiculous starts to the season I've seen. The problem for us though is that it's eight in one end, and fourteen in the other end.

My feeling is that the explanation for the number of goals conceded can be explained on paper, even if you've not seen any of the matches so far. During last season, when every player was fit, the majority of our matches saw five defenders compete for four slots, with us using a back four in almost every game. On Saturday, we used a back five (structured as a slightly fluid 5-4-1/3-4-3 formation). I'll put both up side-by-side as I think it demonstrates something very clearly:

Over the summer, we lost three out of the five mainstays of 2016-17. Liam Shephard returned to Swansea City and has since joined League One side Peterborough United. Alex Lacey has signed for League One side Gillingham, whilst I presume Darren Ward's knee problems mean that he's retired - I've not seen any evidence of him looking at other clubs.

Take a look at the back five we used for our 2017-18 season match at Forest Green, and you'll note that all three of the replacements were part of the club's 2016-17 squad. However, it therefore follows that Darren considered Mugabi, Sowunmi and James to be lesser players than Shephard, Lacey and Ward, because they weren't getting in the team when everyone was fit. In fact Nathan Smith tended to be the fifth flexible man, who was able to cover for both the centre-back position and the left-back position and so shuffled around when one of Lacey, Ward or Dickson were injured. It was only when two defenders were missing that the likes of Mugabi got off the bench and in the starting line-up. Sowunmi never played as a centre-back last season, whilst James was only used twice in half a season.

It would therefore be hard to deny that the defence we used at the New Lawn in 2017-18 was a much weaker one than the defence that played the majority of 2016-17 matches. That was certainly Darren Way's opinion, based on his 2016-17 team selection. When he was fit, Darren Ward was precisely the "experienced defender" that Way has spoken about in his interviews, and I think that his gradual loss from the side was a factor in our decline during the second half of the 2016-17 season (even though the loss of Otis Khan and Ryan Hedges was the other major issue). Alex Lacey was Yeovil's Player Of The Season, so he was also a big loss. I know Liam Shephard got a lot of criticism from fans, but if Peterborough have taken him on, then he can't be entirely rubbish!

In theory, over the summer Way brought in three players over the summer to replace those three outgoing defenders. But this is where things start to unravel rapidly. Stephane Zubar was clearly meant to be the replacement for Darren Ward. But this was a weird signing, given that the 30 year old had not played for Bournemouth since October 2nd 2012, and had since that point had a small number of truncated loans, an anterior cruciate ligament injury that had kept him out of the game for a year, and then following that injury had dropped down three divisions below us to go and play part time football for Weymouth. The highest number of first team games he'd played in a single season was 30 games. Of course, we now know that after just one pre-season friendly he's got an injury, and the club have cut their ties with him.

We also brought in Swansea City loanee Keston Davies. Fair enough - he looked good on paper, as a captain for Swansea's Under-23 side, and we've had a lot of success with Swansea loanees. But the one question mark was that Keston had never played first team football before. After 45 minutes at Kenilworth Road on the opening day of the season, and with his side 5-1 down, Keston was substituted and has not played since. He wasn't the only player at fault for that 8-2 defeat by any stretch of the imagination, but he became the fall guy on the day, and presumably Darren has had to question whether the 20 year old was ready or not - although that aspect is a bit of a concern given we've already committed to a full season loan deal.

We also brought in Aberystwyth Town right-back Daniel Alfei. Yet another former Swansea City player, he was given a two year contract with the club following his performances in pre-season. Darren talked about him playing 40 games this season, adding "How Daniel has been playing non-league football is beyond me", so he clearly saw him as first team material. Yet after two games, Alfei was dropped for the third game, and on Saturday he became the 19th player - the one person not to make the teamsheet. We'll see in due course if that becomes a pattern, but for now Bevis Mugabi has taken his place.

So at the moment, we have a scenario where all three defensive summer signings have been replaced in the starting line-up by players who in Darren's eyes were not as good as his 2016-17 season mainstays. It's therefore not too surprising to find that defensively we're not as good as last season at the moment. Of course Davies and Alfei may just need settling in periods, and so we shouldn't write them off just yet, but this has to be a concern.

The major problem in my eyes has been the loss of Darren Ward (and subsequently the decision to sign Stephane Zubar). But really, this is a problem that should have been on Way's mind during the January transfer window, let alone the Summer transfer window. Ward had a flaky 2016-17 season in terms of his fitness, and by the time we reached the January window he was in the midst of a two month lay-off through injury - absent since November 19th - and was to only go on and make four more starts for us. The need to replace him should have been in Way's head during that month, so I was disappointed when a glut of strikers came in on loan (two of which barely played) and yet the only defensive arrival was a rookie in Tom James (who also was rarely used).

By the time we reached the end of the 2016-17 season, Ward had been out for 2.5 months, and so his release from his contract was an academic one. In fact, I believe that in terms of physical presence, he had 'left' the club long before the season ended, even if he would have stayed on the payroll. The need for a replacement for Ward had been screaming in great big neon lights for most of 2017. In some of the matches like the 3-3 draw at Exeter City at St James Park, you wondered if that capitulation would have happened if an experienced calming leader had been on the pitch at the back.

It's hard to know what Darren's true intentions were with Stephane Zubar, as the club have told us two different stories. When Zubar was snapped up, he was announced as being on a one year contract, and as one of the earliest signatures on June 28th. There clearly was no trial to see whether he was suitable or not, or if he could handle a full-time training regime after two years away from that level of the game. When he left, the club tried to explain away his departure as him suddenly only being a 'non-contract' player, with the 'option of a month-to-month' deal. Belatedly, he was being painted as a pseudo-trialist who we'd been trying to assess his fitness.

I suspect the latter was a naive attempt to save face, with us basically having signed a crock. But if we were to accept the club's explanation given on his departure, then that would suggest that Darren had put all his eggs into one Zubar-shaped basket, because in terms of the other trialists that turned up in the pre-season friendlies, none of them fitted that "experienced defender" that Ward and Zubar could be argued as being. So whether the club's original "one year contract" is accurate, or whether the later "non-contract" claim is accurate, it can probably be assumed that Zubar was meant to be the Darren Ward replacement, and that's why it took until the aftermath of the Luton Town 8-2 defeat for Way to announce that he needed an experienced defender.

That then becomes obvious if you've seen any of our League Two matches so far. Even at 2-0 up and then at 3-1 up at Forest Green Rovers, we were nervously joking on the terrace "I could still see us losing this!" At the New Lawn, both defences looked wide open. Ours looked particularly nervous at times, with the odd pass, or first touch of the ball looking like someone had just been handed hot cakes out of the oven, and were being asked to hold them in their bare hands for a while. There was no calm authority there, which Darren Ward oozed when he was fit, and Alex Lacey grew into during his second season.

Throughout our 14 goals conceded so far, I've found no single player to finger point for this. I believe it is a collective team problem. Whilst Artur Krysiak will rightly carry the can for the third and fourth goals scored at the New Lawn, the others are scattered around via mistakes in the back line. For several goals, I've seen instances of defenders out of position, marking no-one, and I've seen others where two Yeovil players collide, going for the same ball. Again, leadership would help in this instance.

I'd also question the wisdom of having a new side having to deal with so many formation changes in such a short space of time. So far, we've played a 4-3-3, a 3-4-3, a 4-4-2 and a 5-4-1 and often switched within games. Whilst at Wolves, I felt the 3-4-3/5-4-1 line-up seemed to be fairly fixed in its mindset, in that our primary goal there was to stop the home side scoring, at Forest Green, I felt that on occasions the four wide players were not on the same wavelength.

In theory, the 3-4-3 and the 5-4-1 are subtle variations of the same thing, in that it depends on how far up the pitch the four wide players are pushed. But you need them to move up or back as pairs, so you have a pair of defenders/wingers, or a pair of wingers/attackers. At Forest Green, there were moments when Dickson and Mugabi stayed back, but Khan and Olomola went forward, leaving giant gaps in midfield. The formation also left the question of who would act as the midfield central blocker that Ben Tozer and Alex Lawless performed so effectively in the past. I don't believe James Bailey is having that same sort of impact. When we were 3-1 up in the lead-up to half time, we needed to close Forest Green down and snuff them out to keep the lead at the break, but instead we were giving them wide open spaces in the middle to run at. As a result, we conceded a couple of free kicks, one of which they scored from, which gave an entirely different outlook to the half-time cuppa at 3-2.

All of this is a shame, because at the other end of the park, Francois Zoko, Otis Khan and Olufela Olomola are looking the brightest attacking force we've had for a few years. They all look like players that could easily reach double figures in goals by the end of the season. That may turn out to be a slightly false position, in that if we are going to deal with the problems of leaking goals at the other end, we may need to stop being quite so gung ho, which would in turn perhaps lead to Khan and Olomola needing to track back more. But at least that's one good thing that's happening.

What will undoubtedly shape the season will be whether Darren Way brings in a good strong-minded experienced defender between now and August 31st. If he does, then we may be able to reevaluate where we stand. However, if the next signing is more of the same - i.e. a player that shows the same nerves, or disappears to the bench after a few games, then we'd have some clear issues ahead. Certainly what we're doing at the moment isn't good enough - the frustration is that even a paper-based evaluation of the team we've put out should have told us that.

Whilst I agree that the indecision concerning the back 4/5 is an issue, from what I have seen so far I think another major (possibly more important?) issue is the 2 central midfielders neither of whom seems to be able to tackle or defend in front of the back line. As a consequence, defenders are uncertain as to whether to advance or hold their position and this creates space and time for opposition attackers. No matter how good your back line is if they are not protected in midfield the constant pressure will lead to scoring opportunities.
21/08/2017 13:32:53

Steve B said ...

Fine words, but you've omitted to address the nub of the issue as I see it. It's an indisputable fact that we have a a former fiercely competitive and highly accomplished central midfielder in charge of the team and one of the finest centre backs the club has every had as his assistant. And yet between them they are not proving to be capable of finding the right calibre of player to fill these crucially important positions and then coach them to a level of consistent competence. QED.
21/08/2017 15:55:05

Dusty said ...

Either the defenders DW has brought in are just not good enough or DW & TS, our supposed defence coach, have not got them playing properly. I can't see things improving because, let's be honest, though great servants to the club etc., DW and TS are not up to the task and have scraped by for a few years now. DW talks about taking responsibility after every defeat - I wish he and Skivo would do just that and resign so someone else can have a go.
21/08/2017 16:30:58

Gill Green said ...

Same old same old.. Very poor side last season, probably worse this. Appreciate Yeovil must be the last place a professional would want to ply their trade therefore we end up with untried youngsters and sub standard others. Way's post match comments don't change, the problems are glaringly obvious, as they were last season. Sadly money is needed big time (and a manager who would make best use of it). Never mind Mr Fry you've still got 2,500 who gladly part with theirs even if you and your mates won't.
21/08/2017 17:00:39

Palm beach glover said ...

It's hard for the club to want to be successful, because if it is, it will generates more costs...being successful doesn't mean more profits, if it did, believe me Yeovil would do much better!!
21/08/2017 22:48:59

Swaby said ...

im reluctant to accept that the standard of player is an excuse for shipping 14 goals in 3 games. The weakest part of the team is about as easy to ignore as a wrecking ball through your bedroom window. And it's been this way even when we had the defence of last year. Sure, the quality of players play a huge part but the common denominator is the coaching staff and the strategy simply doesn't work.

We are not had to beat, but we do score goals. You only need one goal to win a game and at this stage in the life of Yeovil town, at the risk of falling further down the ladder, we simply need to become bloody hard to beat (especially at home) through being organised, competitive and hard working - AKA, everything I want to see as a fan, win or lose. Once that mentality becomes a habit it will breed confidence in the team and the fans that those players can cope and compete with any team at this level and take a few risks to score a few goals. Who knows, you may then dare to dream of Half decent attendances. Unfortunately we have a coaching team that has absolutely no idea how to make that happen and a board that is delighted with low cost mediocrity and doesn't have the confidence, the contacts or the knowledge of the game to make those changes and sell the identity, history and vision of the club to a more established crop of coaches and players. This is the best we can hope for until that changes.
22/08/2017 02:32:06

andrew strickland said ...

The season has started worse than even
I had thought, proving that the club is systemically rotten to the core. It is much deeper than the individual squad members, and coaching team. Try to put yourselves in the shoes of a would be new investor. Where is the club's business strategy, and who on earth would invest in anything Fry has his poisonous hand on.
I try to be positive in my ranting, but know that in JFs eyes I am irrelevant, as I do not pay for/attend home games. I value the detailed analysis of the playing sides woes, but step back and ask yourself, who on earth would invest in this management shambles of a club
22/08/2017 06:56:49

Martin - SA said ...

Well, I am really excited every Sunday morning when I get the UK review of the soccer results. Holding my breath to see if the Glovers have managed to win (first) and then having a clean sheet (never). The team has gone from scoring too few goals last season to providing a hat full already. Whilst the defence looks awful one questions two points 1) Skiverton has been around and a defensive coach for many years (does anyone know how long), but I recall under his regime Yeovil has slipped down the league and now is the time to get rid of him. 2) Whilst the defence is obviously awful are the midfield trio or quartet doing enough to cover in defence when the opposition attacks, if not you will expose that lousy bunch at the back to the opposition attack and their midfield. I guess there is a bit of that happening, so whilst Way needs to look at the defence he needs to coerce the midfield guys to put in a shift in their own half. Summary, Skiverton out, bring in some new defensive guys and kick the midfield players backsides to work on their defensive roles too.
22/08/2017 10:01:08

New Forest Exile said ...

Admittedly following from afar, the one aspect of news of the Glovers which has constantly amazed me is how quickly DW turns to the loan market or to the pool of other clubs' cast-offs after a few bad results. Surely he should stick with the players he thought were up to the task when he recruited them and help them to improve. Isn't that his job? Doesn't make sense financially either.
22/08/2017 21:11:55

Swaby said ...

@new first exile

You're right, however the key to that is getting your recruitment and exodus right In the first place. Season after season we fail to keep players and we have become a stepping stone club and I truly believe that's down to the board not selling the ambition of the club or showing a real desire to build a project. They look at each season in isolation and think - "how do we stay up this year".

Plenty of teams every year overachieve or simply achieve their objectives on a budget. Location is an issue but there are plenty of players at a lower leek or warming benches elsewhere in the country that would give a limb to play week in week out for Yeovil. Its pathetic the effort and quality we get from our 'big signings'
23/08/2017 14:49:27

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